CCE Team Bios

Mary Cunningham has been a full time teacher in the preschool room at the Syracuse University Early Education and Child Care Center for 18 years.  Along with her teaching team, she has for the last 15 years been investigating the ideas and practices of Reggio Emelia preschools, which work to develop habits which focus on using multiple languages or media. The center also provides early training for preservice education teachers.

She is also a founding member of The New School, a small alternative K-6 school based on the work of Piaget, Vygotsky, Rogers, and Dewey.  It encourages students to be active participants in developing their own learning, and peers to work together as mentors and cooperatively.  It works to provide continuous experiences of and in the world outside the classroom. She has been the Educational Resource and Support teacher for the school for 17 years.

Michael Cunningham has for the past 5 years been the Coordinator of Fine Arts for the Liverpool Central School District, responsible for all K - 12 art and music programs. In the 2006-07 academic year, Liverpool enrollment is 8,000 students, distributed among 10 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and the high school. LCSD employs 20 art teachers and 33 music teachers district wide.

Previously, Mike was an elementary school principal for 16 years in Liverpool and Central Square. As a foundation for his administrative work, Mike taught for 12 years at the elementary and middle levels in the areas of reading, science and math in the Marcellus Central School District. With certifications in elementary (N-K-6), art K-12, reading, and administration, Mike believes himself to have been very fortunate to have had a wide variety of positions in the field of education.

Len Fonte has directed award-winning scholastic theatre for twenty-nine years. Specializing in the works of Shakespeare and Molière, he has directed forty-four scholastic shows, including many award-winning productions. At Nottingham HS, he created the improv troupe, Ham on Wry, and initiated the All Night Playwrights program. Len has produced, written, and directed educational videos, presented workshops on directing and producing scholastic theater, and adjudicated numerous school-level Shakespeare competitions. A produced playwright, Len has written theater criticism for the Syracuse New Times since 2003.

At the first Syracuse Area Live Theatre Youth awards (SALTYs), Len was voted Best Director, Distinguished Educator, and was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1994, he was cited as a Teacher of Excellence by the New York State Council of English Teachers. Len received his B.A. from St. John Fisher College and an M.A. in Cinema Studies from NYU.

Geoffrey Navias has performed in professional theaters in England, Russia, New York, Rochester and Syracuse.  Serving as Open Hand Theater’s Artistic Director since 1982, he has directed over 85 productions, including a bilingual theater project at the Onondaga Indian Nation School, and authored over 40 original works.  The Magic Flute with the Syracuse Opera is one of many collaborations that he has directed, including productions with Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, author Bruce Coville, Society for New Music, painter Roger Morris, and the Skomoroch Theater, for which he was the co-recipient of Best Directors Award for a bilingual production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the 1994 International Puppet Festival of Siberia and the Near East. 

Geoffrey has been recognized locally by the Post-Standard's Person of Achievement Award, the Onondaga County Citizen’s League for Community Development, Peace Action Award, Puppeteers of America, and the Horizons Award from the Onondaga County Cultural Resources Council. 

Travis Newton is the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra's Education and Outreach Manager. He oversees performances in area schools and libraries by the SSO's ten chamber ensembles and the full orchestra. Mr. Newton also helps to coordinate Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra activities and continue to broaden the SSO's community outreach initiatives.

A native of North Carolina, Travis received his B.M. in Violin Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As a violinist, Travis has performed regularly with the Greensboro Symphony and Charleston Symphony, and he is currently a member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. As an educator, Travis is an adjunct faculty member at Hamilton College and Le Moyne College, and maintains a private studio.

Sejal Patel was born in Gujarat, India, and came to America when she was eight. In high school she realized that she wanted to be a teaching artist.  She received her BFA in Art Education with a concentration in photography from Massachusetts College of Art.  Soon after, she had the opportunity to go to India on a travel grant.  There, Sejal produced “Girls I Met in India,” locating herself within Indian tradition via the role of an Indian girl living the life she is expected to live through the socially constructed roles of dutiful daughter, wife, and mother.  Her work “Red, Purple, and Blue” (2003-2004), emerged from conversations that took place during that trip.
     
Sejal received her MFA in Photography from Syracuse University, and teaches photography and media-based art at SU and Onondaga Community College.  Sejal is currently working on three projects involving medium-format photography, video, and film. 

Lauren Unbekant was a co-founder of the physical comedy company Gams On The Lam, performing throughout North America, Latin America, and Europe. As a solo performer of original comedic work, Lauren has performed at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Women’s Work Festival in NYC, and the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen, and has been awarded funding through the National Endowment for the Arts, NY Foundation for the Arts, NYS Council on the Arts, and the Women's Theatre Project.

Lauren is a Master Teaching Artist with nearly 20 years experience. She has developed course work for educators in Critical Thinking Through the Arts and conducted professional development for corporations, foundations, and community organizations. A graduate of Syracuse University Department of Drama, she is currently Director of Educational Outreach for Syracuse Stage and part-time faculty at SU’s Drama Department.

Marsha Wheeler began her AIE career at the Oswego County BOCES Regional Arts-In-Education Service, where she designed artist residencies and curriculum-integrated units of study. As Director of the Institute for Aesthetic Education she worked in professional development, curriculum design, instructional strategies, grant writing, and advocacy of the NYS Legislature. She is currently coordinator of the Oswego BOCES Regional Arts-In-Education Service, where she coordinates the arts-in-the-schools programs, the exploratory enrichment program, Summerfame, Jr. Summerfame, and the Institute for Aesthetic Education.

Marsha holds undergraduate degrees from Geneseo State University and l’Universite de Neuchatel in Switzerland,  an MS In Education from SUNY Oswego, and  a Certificate of Advanced Study in Educational Administration.